


The Tale Of The Attempt To Make Amends

by afteriwake



Series: The Family Business [18]
Category: Elementary (TV), Sherlock (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-01
Updated: 2014-05-01
Packaged: 2018-01-21 10:50:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1547987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The minute Irene hears that Sherlock has left London she knows he is coming to New York to see her and she steels herself for a very depressing conversation. But things do not go anywhere near as badly as she imagined they would.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Tale Of The Attempt To Make Amends

**Author's Note:**

> So i know I haven't finished the WIP for this series, but I wanted to write more of the other fics for this series so I can finally get caught up on what I haven't written before the one where Irene got deported. I'll probably finish the casefic in the next week or two. Anyway, this answers a **land_deduction** Bingo card prompt on the Both Shows card, "Tea."

Irene had been expecting the knock on her door. As soon as Joan had gotten off the phone with Lestrade the evening before and she found out Sherlock was no longer in London Irene knew she should be expecting him to turn up at the brownstone as soon as he could get there. They had quite a bit to talk about. She imagined she was about to get interrogated, and she was dreading that. Still, he had questions and he’d sat on them for months, which was very unlike him according to his cousin, and he deserved answers.

Joan looked up from the book she had been reading. “You think that’s him?”

“I’m fairly sure,” Irene said with a nod.

Joan closed her book. “I’ll go take this book somewhere else to read,” she said. “Unless you don’t want me to.”

Irene shook her head. “I think I’d prefer it if no one was around.”

“All right,” she replied. “I’ll text Sherlock and tell him to come join me for food somewhere when he’s done with his business.”

“Thank you,” Irene said as Joan went to the coat rack to get her jacket and scarf. There was another knock and Irene squared her shoulders and went to the door, unlocking it and opening it up. Sherlock stood on the other side, arm raised to knock again. “I’m sorry I made you wait,” she said.

Sherlock looked behind her towards Joan, then back to Irene. He took in the full view of her the way she supposed he did with everyone. “You don’t need to leave, Joan,” he said quietly.

“It’s all right, Sherlock. I’m not sure I want to be able to hear this conversation.” She finished getting ready. “Just remember she’s pregnant and her blood pressure’s been up. No yelling or stressing her out, or I’ll come beat the crap out of you if your cousin doesn’t do it first.”

Sherlock smiled faintly. “I don’t think it will be that type of conversation, but I will heed your warning.”

“Good.” Joan went over to Irene and gave her a quick hug. “Text me when it’s safe to come home.”

“I will,” she said as she hugged her back. Joan let go and then moved past Sherlock to go outside. Sherlock stepped inside and Irene shut the door behind him. “So. Welcome to my home.”

“I’ve been here before,” he said, looking at her. “When I visited the last time John and I stayed here with Sherlock and Joan.”

“I see.” She looked at him for a moment. “Would you care for tea?”

“Thank you,” he said with a nod. She gestured towards the kitchen and then began to move that way. “Are you settled in well?”

“I’ve been here for a few months now,” she said. “I’ve been settled for quite some time.”

“I should have realized that.”

“How have you been?” she asked as they entered the kitchen. “I know you talk to your cousin occasionally and he’ll tell me bits and pieces, but I suppose hearing it from you would be better.”

“I suppose I’m content,” he said after thinking a moment. “Things are going well in my life.”

“That’s good.” She went to the kettle and picked it up before filling it up in the sink. After that she put it on the stove. “You’re still seeing the pathologist, correct?”

“Yes. We’ve been dating since December,” he said. “It’s interesting, being in a relationship. Most of my friends like the personality changes, at least. I suppose I like them as well.”

“She looked very pretty,” Irene said, turning to face him. He raised an eyebrow. “Joan had pictures from her visit. But I’ll admit I had been spying on you during your Christmas party years ago. I’m sure you found the timing of that text to be much too coincidental.”

“I had surmised as much.” He watched as she began to set things up for the tea. “I suppose you’re wondering why I’ve waited so long to pay you a visit.”

“I’ll admit, I am curious,” she said, pausing in her actions. “You could have spoken to me when I sent you the text with my address. Which reminds me, I was quite cross at you over that. Not that I’m not happy it was my Sherlock, but still. I had expected you, not him.”

“But in the end it was better that it was him,” he pointed out.

“Yes, it was. I would not be anywhere near as happy if he hadn’t come to see me.”

He nodded and then was quiet for a moment. “The answer as to why I’m here now is that you’re going to be a part of my family soon. I had hoped to avoid you, really. I don’t like being reminded of my failures and everything you and I were involved in amounted to one failure after another. But certain people close to me pointed out that if we didn’t make our amends that would cause Sherlock pain, and as he is the only member of my family I hold fond feelings for other than my mother they were most insistent about it.”

“I suppose then that I have your girlfriend and John to thank for that?” she said with a smile. “Assuming your girlfriend knows the truth.”

“She does. She’s known for some time, since before we started dating. And you have Lestrade to thank as well, probably because Joan thinks so highly of you. So really, all those that know the truth think it’s best if we become friendly.”

“I told Sherlock everything, early on in our relationship. I told him about the entire affair. I’ll admit he wasn’t pleased that I approached you at all, but he’s accepted it now.”

“Does he know you kept indirectly trying to get me to be intimate with you?” he asked.

She nodded. “I don’t keep secrets from him, Sherlock. I learned very well the damage keeping secrets can do.” She turned back to making the tea. “As I said, he wasn’t pleased. But we were estranged at that point and I reminded him of that. He could have come back to England at any point and tried to make amends, and it was his pigheadedness that kept that from happening.” She shrugged slightly. “He’s over it, for the most part, and I’m glad for that.”

“I see,” he murmured. He watched her for a few moments. “I already know why you did what you did, but I wanted to ask you why you targeted me specifically? Was it because of who my cousin was?”

“Partly. I was still very angry with him. I thought there was no better slap in the face than if I was able to seduce you. And part of it was because of all the people I could have gone to you were the most brilliant. And I suppose part of it was simply that you are an attractive man and I felt an attraction towards you. But you were completely oblivious to two of those three reasons.”

“I’m taking it you mean I was oblivious to the attraction and the connection to my cousin but not the fact I’m brilliant,” he said in a slightly wry tone.

“Yes.”

“You’re wrong.”

“Oh?” she asked, turning around.

“I may not have realized the attraction part, but I did know who you were, and I did know about your relationship with my cousin. Even if I had realized you were attracted to me I never would have acted on it. Other than being disagreeable when you two ended your liaison my cousin has never given me a reason to hurt him.”

“Then you are a better person than I am,” she said simply.

“You would probably be one of the few people who would say that,” he said with a slight smile. “I can be a very awful person at times, though that is tempered now.”

“I’m glad.” They remained silent until the kettle began to whistle, and then Irene took it off the stove and began to make tea. “I am glad you saved me. You didn’t need to.”

“I may be an absolute arse at times but I was part of the reason you were in that predicament. If I had let you die even I would have felt bad about that. And had Sherlock ever found out he would have hurt me very badly. I honestly think he might have tried to kill me if I had simply let you die. Mycroft should be lucky all he got was a punch in the face for telling him you had been killed by Moriarty. And Moriarty was very lucky he killed himself on that roof, in my opinion. I’ve seen how tenacious my cousin can be.”

“He can be like a dog with a bone, can’t he?” she said with a slight chuckle. “But there are times he hasn’t been that way, much to his detriment, and other times it’s been a bad thing that he is.”

“That’s the way it is with everyone, I suppose.” He moved closer to her as she picked up the tea service to take to the table. “Are you happy, Irene?”

“I am,” she said with a nod, heading towards the table. “I didn’t think I would be, or at least not as happy as I am now, but I am happy. And I suppose I have you to thank for it. Twice, actually.” She frowned. “Or possibly three times.”

“No, twice. Once when I saved you life and once when I gave Sherlock your address.” They made it to the table and sat down, her at the head of the table and him on the side. “I suppose I am glad you’re happy. As I told my cousin when I gave him your address, when I saved you I hadn’t expected you to become a hermit.”

“I didn’t know if my enemies were still out there. Or all still out there, either.”

“They aren’t,” he said quietly. She glanced at him sharply. “Well, not as many, at any rate. When I began to dismantle Moriarty’s network Mycroft let me see the contents of you phone. While I worked on making sure the world was free of Moriarty’s influence I also began taking care of enemies of yours. Most of the time they went hand in hand.”

“Oh?” she asked.

“Some of the people you had blackmail on were also working for Moriarty or were in some way connected to him. When I made sure they were no longer a problem that eliminated a threat from your life. You probably still have a handful of people out there who would wish you harm, and a few governments that would love to see you disappear, but not as many of your enemies are around as you might think.”

“I see,” she said quietly. They lapsed into silence for a short while. Finally Sherlock checked the tea and then began to pour it for them. “I should be doing that,” she chided.

“You have a lot on your mind,” he said. “And the tea will get cold if we don’t drink it soon.”

“I suppose.” She watched him finish pouring her cup and then begin to pour him own. “Do you think I could go out in public here?”

“I don’t see why not. Your fake identity seems to be very solid and you look quite different than before. As long as no one knows your true identity I don’t see a problem with you moving about in New York.”

“It would be nice to have a life again, even if it’s not the same life,” she said with a smile before picking up her tea. “I suppose I should thank you. For everything.”

“I don’t need your thanks, but I’ll accept them,” he said as he finished pouring his own tea. “I propose we move on to other topics of conversation and enjoy a nice cup of tea before we tell my cousin and Joan that it’s safe to come home.”

Her smile widened. “I think that’s an excellent idea.” Sherlock gave her a faint grin back as he picked up his own cup and saucer. This was a good fresh start, she realized, and she was very glad he had come after all.


End file.
